Rise of Australia

Chapter 376 48 Hour Ultimatum
After the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, not only the Austro-Hungarian Empire was asking about Germany's attitude, but the Allied Powers were also confirming the attitude of their allies.

For the Austro-Hungarian Empire, this is a suitable excuse for declaring war, and it is also an opportunity to provoke the war between the Allies and the Entente at any time.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire is making preparations, while the four major powers of the Allied Powers have already begun preparations for war.

On July 1914, 7, six days had passed since Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated.

On this day, Arthur received inquiries from Nicholas II and George V, both of whom were asking whether Arthur was ready for war.

Arthur's answer was that the Australasian army was ready to fight at any time, and it could guarantee sufficient supplies at any time.

After receiving a firmer answer from Arthur, Nicholas II breathed a sigh of relief.

If the Austro-Hungarian Empire can't think about declaring war on Serbia, then Russia is bound to end and enter a state of war with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

At this time, the attitude of the allies of Russia and Austria-Hungary became very important.Any side with the support of its allies can at least maintain a balance of power in the war.

But there is also less fortunate news. If the allies of both the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia support this military action, then a European war is bound to break out.

July 7th also happened to be the day when Archduke Ferdinand and his wife were buried.

As the heir of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and a member of the Habsburg family, the funeral of Archduke Ferdinand seemed relatively simple.

First, the Austro-Hungarian Empire is currently busy with the investigation of the incident and preparations for war. Second, due to the hostile relationship between the monarchy countries such as Britain, Russia and Australia, no high-level national officials came here.

Kaiser Wilhelm II originally planned to attend the funeral of his friend Ferdinand, but because Prime Minister Batemann reported that more than a dozen assassins were going from Belgrade to Vienna to assassinate him, he had no choice but to give up coming. .

William II expressed anger at Serbia's unscrupulous assassination of members of his royal family, and cursed: "Those assassins are damned murderers, bandits, and kingslayers!"

Although there was no royal family and high-level government participation, the four countries of Britain, France, Russia and Australia still sent ambassadors to the Austro-Hungarian Empire to attend the funeral of Archduke Ferdinand.

The Australasian ambassador to the Austro-Hungarian Empire conveyed Arthur's words to Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire under Arthur's order: "No matter what the situation of this incident is, Australasia will give all the assassins Severe punishment."

The unscrupulous assassination of members of the royal family is not good news for Arthur, who wants to continue to maintain the monarchy.

Although he and his family were not assassinated, if there are fewer and fewer monarchies like Austria-Hungary and Germany, how can Australasia be alone?
The trial of the assassins after the war was Arthur's pledge to Germany and Austria-Hungary.On the one hand, doing so will allow the joint declaration of the European royal families that has been signed to continue to take effect, and will not be reduced to a piece of waste paper.

Second, it can also allow other countries to think carefully about the consequences of such behavior before planning to assassinate the European royal family.

As for Britain, France, and Russia, Arthur has reached an agreement with them.Trial for all those involved in the assassination without threatening Serbia's political rights.

While the four major powers of the Allied Powers were in close contact, Germany also received inquiries from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Germany first expressed its attitude to Austria-Hungary, and it was the German ambassador in Vienna who warned Austria-Hungary not to take rash actions.

But this is actually the view of the German chancellor.The German Chancellor believed that war should be avoided and Serbia's concessions should be obtained through more peaceful means.

But Kaiser Wilhelm II scoffed at such views.After hearing the warning from the German ambassador to Vienna, William II angrily criticized: "This is a golden opportunity, who made him do this? This is really bad, this matter has nothing to do with him, what should be done is Austrian. He has no right to point fingers at the affairs of the Hungarian Empire. We must clarify this matter with the Serbs as soon as possible, the sooner the better, this is the simple and clear truth."

After criticizing his own diplomatic ambassador, William II turned his head to the Austro-Hungarian ambassador to Germany and said: "The German Empire is waiting for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to take major actions against Serbia. If you think it is necessary to take military action against Serbia , then it would be a pity to give up such a favorable opportunity. I know that Russia's position is hostile. If there is a war between Russia and Austria-Hungary, then Germany will fulfill its alliance obligations and join the war between Russia and Austria. "

After speaking, William II glanced around, looked at the peace faction headed by the Prime Minister with a little deep meaning, and said: "The Austro-Hungarian Empire wants to have a once-and-for-all liquidation with Serbia, or it will be done now. Reckoning, or never reckoning. The Serbs must be wiped out, and now!"

As if verbal promises were not enough, Wilhelm II wrote a letter to Joseph I, which clearly stated: "In any case, the German Empire will, in accordance with the obligations of the alliance and the traditional friendship with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, , stand firmly and faithfully on the side of the Austro-Hungarian Empire."

However, this letter was opposed by the domestic government. At the insistence of the government, William II was forced to delete these words under any circumstances.

The attitude of Germany and the German government quickly spread to Vienna, which greatly inspired the main war faction in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

With the support and instigation of Germany, the Prime Minister of the Austrian Government and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Berchtold, became very tough. He directly asked Conrad, the Chief of Staff at the cabinet meeting: "General Conrad, are you here?" Time to resolve the Serbian danger by force?"

As one of the main fighters, Conrad's answer is naturally beyond doubt: "There are two ways to solve the Serbian problem, one is to use peace and the other is to use force. Judging from the current situation, in addition to using force to solve the problem, we There is no choice."

The firm support attitude of the Allied Powers and the Allies towards the Allies brought the cloud of war in Europe to come soon.

On July 1914, 7, Russia urgently placed a batch of orders to Australasia, including 7 rifles, 500 artillery pieces, 5000 million rounds of ammunition and other weapons and equipment, and medical supplies worth more than 100 million pounds.

The British and French navies also began to mobilize in advance to prepare for a sudden war that may break out at any time.

Beginning on July 7, the troops of the Austro-Hungarian Empire began to mobilize frequently, which made the suspicion of war in Europe more intensive.

On July 7, when Australasia delivered all the supplies to the port of Vladivostok, the Austro-Hungarian Empire also formally issued an ultimatum to the Serbian government, putting forward ten harsh demands, including:
Prohibition of all publications in Serbia that are hostile and contemptuous of the Austro-Hungarian Empire;

Immediately disband the Serbian Mafia and all underworld groups opposed to the Austro-Hungarian Empire;
To curb arms smuggling in Serbia under the supervision of the Austro-Hungarian Empire;
Banning of all anti-Austro-Hungarian political propaganda in the field of education in Serbia and removal of all Serbian officials engaged in anti-Austro-Hungarian activities;

Serbia banned subversive activities aimed at harming the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the implementation was supervised by personnel sent by the Austro-Hungarian Empire;
The Austro-Hungarian Empire sent personnel to Serbia to participate in the investigation of the assassination of Ferdinand Archduke, and tried all the accomplices;

Immediately arrest Serbian military intelligence officer Javo Donkosicki and railway employee Milan Siganovic all suspects;

Punishment of Serbian border customs officials who assisted criminals in crossing the border to Sarajevo;
Answers to Serbian officials' anti-Austro-Hungarian rhetoric following the assassination;
The above items shall be implemented immediately, and the Austro-Hungarian government shall be notified as soon as possible, and the reply shall be given within 48 hours.

It is worth mentioning that the time when Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia was [-] pm that day.

And this time happened to be the time when French President Poincaré and Prime Minister Viviani ended their military visit to Russia and returned.

The reason why this time was chosen was that Berchtold did not want Russia and France to reach an agreement on this event soon.

Judging from the harshness of the Austria-Hungarian ultimatum, this ultimatum is no different from a declaration of war.

You know, the execution time of this ultimatum is only 48 hours, and Serbia doesn't even have time to think about it, let alone successfully complete all the terms.

This also means that when this ultimatum was issued, Berchtold was already prepared to start a war with Serbia, a war that is likely to affect Russia and Germany, and even affect the entire country. War of the Confederates and Entente.

When Serbian Prime Minister Pasic received this ultimatum, his heart was very complicated.

Compared with the more extreme military and intelligence agencies, the Serbian government is actually the more rational one.

At least for the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand this time, Prime Minister Pasic knew very well that the Serbian government was absolutely not involved.

But the problem is that the Austro-Hungarian Empire asked the Serbian government to arrest all the accomplices involved in the murder, including intelligence officers Don Kocicki and Siganovic.

These two are senior officials of the intelligence department, and they are also core members of the mafia controlled by the intelligence department.

To arrest these two people within 48 hours, unless there is the support of the military, the Serbian government alone cannot do it.

As one of the extremists, the Serbian military and intelligence agencies are simply impossible to help the government.

This also means that the Serbian government of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is impossible to achieve, and it also means that there is no choice but war between Serbia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

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(End of this chapter)